My first Publication Agile-Data-Warehouse-Design-eBook | Page 67

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Chapter 2
Don’t use real employee names in event stories. You may have to model stories
where employees underperform—you don’t want to point the finger at anyone in
the room or elsewhere. Try using famous fictional characters instead. This side-
steps any legal problems, and can be mildly entertaining, but don’t overdo it: you
don’t want to distract everyone from the real event stories and details.
What?
Ask a what question,
especially if you
don’t already have
a what detail
Next you ask for any additional whats associated with the event. The general form
of the question is: “Subject Verb Object with/for what?” What questions are par-
ticularly useful when the main clause doesn’t already contain a what detail; for
example:
CUSTOMER pays MAINTENANCE FEE for what?
might give you the what detail: SOFTWARE PRODUCT that would be added to
the table with a “for” preposition. You can keep repeating variations on the what
question to see if there are any more what details, but be careful not to collect
“detail about detail” (see sidebar: Detail about Detail )
Where?
Ask for a where next
The next detail type to look for is a where. You ask for this by using the event’s
main clause with a where appended:
CUSTOMER orders PRODUCT, where?
You are trying to find out whether the event occurs at a specific geographic loca-
tion (or website address). If the stakeholders respond:
Online, or at a retail outlet.
Online and retail
outlets could be
generalized as sales
locations.
Generalizations
should be clearly
documented by
examples
you would extend the table to record the website URL or retail store location as a
where detail of the event. You might generalize the stakeholders’ response to:
CUSTOMER orders PRODUCT at SALES LOCATION. Naming the detail SALES
LOCATION enables you to record websites and retail stores in the same column. If
you define a generalization detail like this you should make sure that its meaning is
clearly documented by examples. In Figure 2-9 the examples for the new where
detail SALES LOCATION show three different types of location: store, website and
call center.